Some northern Lynn Canal communities don’t like the ferry schedules they’ve got this summer, but ferry officials say those schedules are linked to congestion in Auke Bay.

“It’s put a little crimp in our style, and in our economy,” said Stephanie Scott, mayor of Haines Borough.

Last summer the northern port cities of Haines and Skagway had daily or near daily ferry service, and want to see that happen again.

Alaska Marine Highway System Officials say that may be possible, and that this summer’s schedules were in part a test that may not work out.

Carnival Cruise Lines reported plunging profits for the year’s second quarter as it continued to suffer the fallout from the Costa Concordia sinking earlier this year, but told Wall Street that it was mostly doing well in Alaska.

Carnival is the state’s and world’s largest cruise line, and also the first to report on the Alaska summer season.

Challenging the slow pace of the governor and Legislature in dealing with Alaska’s underfunded pension plans, the Alaska Retirement Management Board trustees Thursday voted to try to force the issue and speed up paying off the debt.

Trustee Martin Pihl, a Ketchikan civic leader and retired Ketchikan Pulp Co. general manager, urged the board to change how it calculates the state’s annual contribution to the Public Employee Retirement and Teacher Retirement Systems.

Gov. Sean Parnell has signed a new law aimed at combating human and sex trafficking, but some provisions of the bill have raised constitutional questions.

Among a number of steps House Bill 359 takes is to rename the crime of “promoting prostitution” to be called “sex trafficking.” That shifts the focus of the blame away from victims to those who prey on society’s most vulnerable, the administration said.